NOTES for Isa 6:1-13
1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. |
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. |
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. |
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. |
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. |
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: |
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. |
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. |
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. |
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. |
11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, |
12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. |
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. |
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It must not have been by chance that the Lord appeared to the prophet in the year of the king's death. Earthly rulers can change, but the Heavenly King remains forever.
The burning coal with which the seraph touched Isaiah's lips had been taken from the altar that burned before the face of the Lord. Isaiah's prophetic ministry became a participation in sacrifice, just as every true ministry to the Lord is sacrificial. It was the sacrificial coal that cleansed the prophet and enabled him to volunteer boldly to go into service.
But what the prophet must say to the people is hard. He must speak about the fact that people have lost the ability to hear and see, so that addressing them with words of truth and wisdom is pointless. But if that is so, why should the prophet go out to preach at all?
Apparently, so that the words would still sink deep into at least some of the listeners, so that they would be heard by at least a few people. And will those few not be among the remnant that, after all the disasters, will put out a new shoot?
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